Category: Christian refugees

Senegal wants Haitians as recruits for Islam?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Just now I reported that France wants Haitian refugees. O.K!  Let the French fight that out.   Now comes news that the West African nation of Senegal is attempting to lure Haitians back to Africa with promises of land.  Why? 

That is the question that this California-based website, Hogue News, is asking and answering, here.

The country has been warned of fraudulent online websites, embarrassed by the comments offered by aging televangelist Pat Robertson, and cautiously concerned that our own government might not want to “waist a good tragedy” for political gain.

Today there should be (there won’t be due to political correctness) a growing concern with the offer from the government of Senegal; the regime in the Capitol of Dakar has openly offered Haitian Refugees “free land” throughout the West-African nation.

From the Associated Press, “Senegal is offering free land to Haitians wishing to “return to their origins” following last week’s devastating earthquake … Senegal’s octogenarian president, Abdoulaye Wade, told a meeting of his advisers that Haitians are the sons and daughters of Africa … and Senegal is ready to offer them parcels of land -even an entire region. It all depends upon how many Haitians come.”

Why would an impoverished country entice the residency of more impoverished people?

Senegal is 96% Islamic!

In September of 2008 I personally spent 10-days in Senegal.　

Five days in Dakar I walked through new economic growth along the coastline – growth entirely funded by Islamic money and influence. As I traveled 6-hours north to the fishing city of St. Louis, the same held true, new (remedial) development surrounding mosques and Islamic geography throughout my tour.

I spoke with many citizens of Senegal and asked about the ‘re-birth’ of portions of their country. The response was credited to the religion of Islam across the land. But many spoke with great fear; sighting events of manipulation, intimidation and the removal of all of religions from the public square.

Today, Senegal is 96-percent Islamic.

No reason to recruit impoverished refugees to a poor nation other than Islamic indoctrination

There are sincere efforts to help the Haitian people mounting, and there are insincere efforts to acquire personal gain off of millions of human beings who are dealing with a threat of personal destruction.

I am not saying that Islam is a terrorist religion, but I am saying there are those who wear the cloak of Islam who are. In Senegal, there is no other reason for refugee recruitment than to indoctrinate a radical presentation of Islam.

As we debate relief efforts and self-aggrandizing we should be very weary [wary?] of Senegal’s attempt to gather more numbers for their Islamic population – that, in many ways – is nothing more than a draft for future assignments inside of a radical theological fringe of Islam.

Where is the Muslim charity in Haiti?

Isn’t it peculiar to read that relief efforts and organizations that are mobilizing money, materials and members to rescue Haitians are many; but I have yet to read, or hear, of any sincere effort from Islamic charity (which we read about a plenty inside of the US) – other than recruitment into a nation that has determined its future rests with Islam’s investment and indoctrination?

My opinion here; sending Haitian refugees to Senegal is a very dangerous consideration.

Sounds like African Islamists are following the Saul Alinsky/Rahm Emanuel method of bringing about political change—never let a good crisis go to waste.

Iraqi refugees overwhelm Detroit-area nonprofits — and are they Christian?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The headline of the Assyrian International News Agency article is actually Thousands of Iraqi Refugees Overwhelm Service Agencies in Detroit.  But I knew you would think that meant government welfare agencies, while it really means private self-help  groups. It begins:

Prior to 2006, strict immigration policies didn’t allow refugees fleeing the violence in Iraq to enter the United States. In 2007, a more lenient “open door” policy was implemented, allowing thousands of Iraqis –15,000 in 2009 alone– to settle in the Detroit area. Now, local Arab community groups that stepped up to help the refugees say they are overwhelmed by the burden of taking care of the new arrivals.

In a recent interview on WDET’s Detroit Today, Joseph Kassab, executive director of the Chaldean Federation of America, and Abdallah Boumediene, from the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services [ACCESS], acknowledged that the Arab community in Michigan can’t deal with the crisis by itself.

With little to no support from the local, state or federal governments, Detroit’s Middle Eastern community has to deal with providing thousands of displaced Iraqis with housing, health care, education, transportation and jobs.

Assyrians are Christian, though the website never seems to mention the word. And of the two groups mentioned, Chaldeans are Christian, and have been settling in Michigan for many decades. I can’t tell about the other group, ACCESS. Abdallah must be a Muslim name. The site itself doesn’t mention either “Muslim” or “Christian,” but its calendar shows events for Caldeans and Maronites, who are Christian, and also a celebration of Iftar, a Muslim holiday.

I started to post just on the original article, but got sidetracked on this Christian-Muslim question because it intrigued me. At first I thought the groups mentioned must be Christian, because Muslims generally aren’t shy about proclaiming their religion, whereas Christians might be, having been persecuted in the Middle East for so long. Usually inter-faith groups like to give that fact prominence: it’s so heartwarming, especially to entities that hand out money. But perhaps Christian and Muslim Arabs in Michigan, or some among them, work together amicably in ACCESS, and don’t wish to trumpet this cooperation to the world. Muslims, especially, would catch hell from some of their co-religionists for working closely with Christians, while the Christians might have their sanity questioned. Maybe somebody who knows more can let us know.

Now, to get on with the report:

Local non-profits are not only dealing with resettling the newly arrived, they’re also trying to cope with serious mental health issues suffered by many refugees. Iraqis often have had family members kidnapped, tortured or killed. Families experience depression, loneliness and the post-traumatic stress caused by living in a war-torn country.

“We deal with tragic situations and stories of people who have gone through horrendous experiences,” Boumediene said.

The agencies say they are committed to fully supporting the newly arrived, despite what they say is a lack of support from the government.

“We don’t want to re-victimize these people,” Kassab said. “These people are victims of torture, victims of persecution, victims of failed policies and therefore they should be helped.”

This does sound more Christian than Muslim, but who knows? At any rate, praise to these groups, whatever religion they are, who are trying to do what should be done, without much government help.

Ann previously posted on the Chaldeans in Michigan in 2008, here, and pointed out that the community was helping the refugees, not the government. And a later post pointed out that although the State Department had stopped settling refugees in Detroit, Iraqis settled in other areas of the country went there on their own. And why not? It sounds as if the Chaldeans and perhaps other groups there have the best resettlement program in the country.

Guest column: 2010 New Years Day – Bowling Green Police Department assists refugees neglected by the International Center

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is an article written for RRW by Cindy Florez about her experiences with refugees and a resettlement agency in Bowling Green, KY and her battle to help the refugees.  We first heard from Ms. Florez here in early November when the plight of the Karenni refugees in Kentucky first came to her attention.

I would like to add a bit of additional information to the story about the Bowling Green Police Department‘s (BGPD) New Years Day donation of over 150 coats to the Karenni refugees from Burma. First I would like to thank the BGPD for their generous spirits and kind hearts. The BGPD deserves a Gold Medal for what they did. Their compassion will long be remembered by the refugees, and has acted as a counterweight to the fear that the refugees felt due to the International Center’s actions. To be clear, the BGPD stepped in to provide these minimum required items when the International Center, which was paid to do so, would not.

Secondly, a bit of background information about how I became involved with these refugees. During trips to Thailand since 2003 I lived with these people on and off for a week at a time in refugee Camp 3 in Thailand outside Mae Hong Son on the Burma border. I saw the suffering they endured from the Burmese & Thailand Army and I came home filled with sorrow and love for the Karenni refugees. When the refugees were resettled to Bowling Green I began to visit them there and monitor their progress under the auspices of the International Center (IC), also known as the Western Kentucky Mutual Assistance Association, an affiliate of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI). Unfortunately and to my astonishment, as I wrote in earlier comments here, I observed that the refugees were placed in deplorable living conditions and have been ill-treated by the IC, its caseworkers, and affiliated landlords.

On Friday, December 18, 2009 I made another road trip to visit the refugees, my car filled with donations, since the refugees continue to lack so many of the basics. When I arrived at the Lover‘s Lane Apartments the owner Noy Oulay asked who I was. When I told him my name he immediately responded, “You are evicted from this property!” I asked, “Evicted?, I don’t even live here. ” He told me to leave immediately or he would call the BGPD. I told him I would help him out and call the BGPD myself. In the meantime I could hear him ten feet away calling the International Center. Why would he need to call the International Center?

Nonetheless, the BGPD came and the officer said I was banned from the property. I asked, “Banned?” “How can I be banned when the tenants who have leases want me here?” The officer saw that my car was fully loaded with gifts and said I had 30 minutes to unload and then leave. She said that if I returned to the property again I would be arrested for trespassing. The refugees watched all of this with fear and trepidation. Before one of my previous trips to visit them on Friday, November 13, 2009 two IC Caseworkers knocked on the refugees’ doors and warned them not to speak to me or let me into their apartments. So, as we were unloading my car I told them not to worry about me, that everything would be okay.

My only conclusion as to why I was banned from the apartment complex is that the IC and it’s landlord friend wanted to isolate the refugees from me. There was obvious heavy communication going on between the landlord and the IC. I, of course, come to Bowling Green simply to assist the refugees. I bring them basic necessities. I take photos of the filthy slum apartments in which they have been placed by IC, and for which they have to pay over $500 a month. I take photos of what basics they have and are lacking. I take statements from them. Many of the refugees have told me that after they first arrived that there has been no food in their apartments for up to 17 days! They lack appropriate winter clothing, eating utensils & dishes, towels, and furniture. One refugee family with two small children had just 2 coffee cups, 1 plate, and 2 spoons, and they had been here for over three weeks. They didn’t have any furniture in their apartment! Many of the refugees who have been here less than 8 months have been rejected for Medicaid, even though funds are provided to Kentucky for Medicaid for all refugees for their first eight months!

Anyway, first thing on Monday, December 21, 2009, I faxed both the BGPD and the Attorney General of Kentucky regarding the Friday incident and pointed out that only the tenants had the legal authority to determine who they wished to welcome as guests in their apartment homes. The refugees that live at Lovers Lane Apartments also signed the letter saying I was welcome. The BGPD then called me and apologized and lifted the ban. I replied back with a thank you and told the BGPD about how these refugees have been neglected and were in desperate need of a variety of basic necessities, including winter coats, hats and gloves, which the International Center has not been providing. The following day I then received a call from the BGPD saying that they had a few coats that were leftover from a previous coat drive during Thanksgiving, and that they would see what else they could to donate more.

On New Years Day three officers showed up at the Lovers Lane Apartments and handed out over 150 winter coats to the refugees, who were absolutely delighted. The refugees who were previously frightened by the police support of the hostile landlord and the IC are now feeling a friendship with and trust of the police.

By the way, during this visit by the police an IC caseworker was there. Why would an IC caseworker be working on New Years Day? The refugees told me they had so much they wanted to tell the officers about what has been happening and how they have been treated but could not since the IC worker was there. They were so disappointed. They asked me why the caseworker, Tin Zar, was there when the IC was not involved in this event. This was a gift from the BGPD, not from the IC. Did the IC show up on New Year’s Day to monitor the refugees into silence? The IC uses Burman (Burmese majority ethnic group) caseworkers who the Karenni refugees say are abusive and who they are frightened of. The Burman are from the ethnic group that controls the despotic government of Burma.

The refugees also told me that they had only seen their caseworkers, Hein That and Tin Zar, at the Lovers Lane Apartments one time before the coat giveaway on New Years Day.   That was when they came on November 13th and told refugees not to talk to me or allow me into the apartments.

The incident has been a positive step forward for these refugees. Many of the refugees have been talking of fleeing to another state due to the lack of basic necessities, Medicaid, transportation, etc. I am trying to get them stay for at least their first eight months so they do not have any disruption in the little assistance they are getting. I have to say that this whole series of experiences has been a real eye opener for me. I never knew that refugees were treated so badly once they arrived in this country. I am amazed at the negligence and unethical actions that I have seen by the resettlement agency in this case. Nevertheless, the latest incident seems to have re-instilled hope in these refugees in Bowling Green.

Indonesian Christian asylum seekers released from detention in Washington State

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I’m assuming these are some of the detained asylum seekers that the Obama Administration has begun releasing (reported here ten days ago).   The three Indonesians are Christians and are fearful of the Muslim majority if they return to Indonesia.  From AP:

EVERETT, Wash. — Three Indonesian immigrants who are fighting deportation because they say their Christian faith would lead to persecution in their native country have been released from a detention center in Washington.

The release of the immigrants is the latest episode in an effort by Christian Indonesian nationals from Western Washington and around the country to stay in the United States, the Everett Herald reported Sunday.

Indonesia, a country of more than 200 million people, has witnessed deadly clashes between Muslims and Christians in recent years. Beheadings, hundreds of deaths and church burnings have all been linked to religious tensions. Indonesia is about 86 percent Muslim.

What makes Westerners think that as the Muslim population increases in the decades ahead that we won’t suffer the same persecution as Christians in Muslim countries face today?

Remember the Christian Palestinian refugees at Christmas time

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Daniel Schwammenthal reports in the Wall Street Journal on The Forgotten Palestinian Refugees:

Meet Yussuf Khoury, a 23-year old Palestinian refugee living in the West Bank. Unlike those descendents of refugees born in United Nations camps, Mr. Khoury fled his birthplace just two years ago. And he wasn’t running away from Israelis, but from his Palestinian brethren in Gaza.

Mr. Khoury’s crime in that Hamas-ruled territory was to be a Christian, a transgression he compounded in the Islamists’ eyes by writing love poems.

“Muslims tied to Hamas tried to take me twice,” says Mr. Khoury, and he didn’t want to find out what they’d do to him if they ever kidnapped him. He hasn’t seen his family since Christmas 2007 and is afraid even to talk to them on the phone.

Speaking to a group of foreign journalists in the Bethlehem Bible College where he is studying theology, Mr. Khoury describes a life of fear in Gaza. “My sister is under a lot of pressure to wear a headscarf. People are turning more and more to Islamic fundamentalism and the situation for Christians is very difficult,” he says.

The reporter points out that the western media rarely report on the plight of Christians in Gaza and the West Bank. It doesn’t fit into their narrative of everything being Israel’s fault. And it is rare for Palestinian Christians to speak out about their situation. Most of the time they try to keep a low profile so as not to antagonize their Muslim neighbors, and deny any suffering.  The article highlights this attitude:

Samir Qumsieh, the founder of what he says is the holy land’s only Christian TV station, also stresses that there is no “Christian suffering” and that the Christians’ problems are not orchestrated by the PA. Yet his stories of land theft, beatings and intimidation make one wonder why, if the PA doesn’t approve of such injustices, it is doing so little to stop it?

Christians have only recently begun to talk about how Muslim gangs simply come and take possession of Christian-owned land while the Palestinian security services, almost exclusively staffed by Muslims, stand by. Mr. Qumsieh’s own home was firebombed three years ago. The perpetrators were never caught.

“We have never suffered as we are suffering now,” Mr. Qumsieh confesses, violating his own introductory warning to the assorted foreign correspondents in his office not to use the word “suffering.”

The article is datelined Bethlehem. Christmas is a good time to point out that Bethlehem was a Christian city for almost 2,000 years, with its holy site of the Church of the Nativity, built on the site of Jesus’s birth. Mr. Qumsieh pointed out that Christians are abandoning Bethlehem (which is located in the West Bank) in droves.  Sixty years ago they were about 80 percent of the population there, and now they’re down to 20 percent. Of course Muslims have no respect for Bethlehem’s status as a city important to Christians. In fact, they desecrated the Church of the Nativity without a qualm in 2002 when a group of Palestinian gunmen took it over during an Israeli action, using priests and nuns as human shields. (One account of that incident is here.)